The Bible has its uses – like any other book. We have to ask the question, though. And remember there is one better question to start the ball rolling: ‘What is the Bible?’
Lovers of arithmetic will say it is a collection of 39 Old plus 27 New documents making 66 all. There is no gainsaying this, though lovers of the Apocrypha may count differently.
But let us apply the question ‘What is the Bible?’ as we would apply such a question to other pieces of literature. If we take up the Iliad we say that here is the original war-story. The Aeneid follows that example with more colourful content.
If our choice falls on the Morte d’Arthur, we can say that we have a story of romance, chivalry and medieval abundance. Later compositions of a popular kind featuring Sherlock Holmes or Hornblower offer colourful content for those wishing to pursue tales of lively exploits. We should be hard put to it to decide which books in ‘The Western Canon’ do that job the best. Readers will notice that we are dealing in works of the imagination rather than the work of reporters and others combining to produce a daily record, as The Times might be.
When we make such comparisons, we realise that to assemble books of lasting value requires a general acquaintance with what great minds have produced and also a readiness to accept that in the daily world with its need for eating, sleeping, and working such books are likely to resemble one another in certain aspects. It will not be possible for a book to escape the form that the history of literature has established for it.
This means that the Bible will share certain characteristics with other literature. Without those features it will become something other than a guide for those looking for such an aid. We all know people (probably older people) who can tell us what experience has taught them. Or we may cite Bacon’s Essays for example in that context. To go to such books for advice and inspiration is a sensible step on the road to worthwhile living. In fact the Bible, as an encyclopaedia must be regarded as the best of such compositions. (2 Timothy 3.16,) Libraries have been furnished with stocks of books in the answering of this question but it is worth asking it today when university departments are pruning their course and in some cases eliminating the best books.
Raiding the Bible for the best quotations can be rewarding but it belittles the book. It was not intended to be anthologised. It has a better destiny than that.
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